After All
by Yours The Author
Summary: Henry confronts his old partner, Joey Drew. He knows he has to get as many people out of this cursed studio as possible, and Joey Drew is the only one who can do it. Reasoning with him seems impossible, so Henry must do something else; something that burns inside him. He... must sing!


Hello, BatIM fans! My name is Yours The Author, and I got the idea for this story on the way to the library the other day. I'm not entirely sure anyone will like this, but I hope someone does.

This is a song fic for the song "After All" by Christine Ebersole. I changed the lyrics a bit to better fit the story of Bendy and the Ink Machine. I don't own the song, natuerlich, but I just wanted to have a little fun.

This story heavily suggests some level of Dad Henry, and possibly some Toon Henry, which explains the reason for Henry singing (or it might not, who knows? I certainly don't). There's also a lot of Evil Joey, though whether or not he redeems himself, I'll leave up to The Reader (that's you all). Also, there's a suggestion that Henry was reborn in the ink after dying at some point. Also also, for historian's sake, this story was written before Chapter Five's release, so if you're reading this after the story is finished, you won't get confused. Hopefully.

I hope you like this. See you at the bottom of the page.

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After All

Henry entered the office. Sitting at the desk, as if he had been waiting for him, was Joey Drew. Joey made no facial expression.

"This has to stop, Joey," Henry began. "Let everyone out of this studio and turn off the machine for the ones who can't leave so they can have peace."

"And why should I?" Joey asked, his voice eerily calm. "Why should I destroy my greatest work, and why should I just let you leave, after you left thirty years ago?"

"Because this," Henry gestured behind him at the searchers peering through the doorway, "this isn't something to be proud of. You've perverted the original meaning of these cartoons, and if you don't let us leave, the vision you… _we_ created thirty years ago, will die. Is that really what you want?"

Joey slammed his fist on the desk, making Henry jump in spite of himself. "Don't try to deceive me, Henry! You don't care about the true meaning of this world _I_ created! You left me, and I did what I had to do to keep _my_ stories alive!"

Henry's eye twitched. " _Your_ stories?"

"Yes, _mine._ You were just an animator, someone I _owned_. Anything you came up with became officially _mine._ _My_ studio. _My_ stories. _My_ vision. _My—"_

" _That's enough,_ " Henry said sternly. He spread his arms wide.

Joey raised an eyebrow. "What are you-?"

 _"What would a father not do for his child? What lengths would a father not go?"_ Henry sang.

"What the actual-?"

Henry gestured again at the searchers: " _There's a bond that exists between father and child, with no end to how strong it can grow."_

An unusually small searcher was brave enough to approach the singing man and leaned against Henry's leg. Henry patted it gently. " _It's a promise for life between father and child; it begins with creation and ink. And you're shaken to your soul with an ache you've never known, and you look into their eyes to find you're looking in your own."_

A sniveling ink man, who had probably once been a simple worker at the studio, stumbled next to Henry and cried quietly. Henry brushed away an inky tear and glared again at Joey.

 _"And there's a pain you can't imagine, a special kind of torture_ you _can't feel._ " Henry put a hand over his heart. _"A cut that bleeds from somewhere deep inside you: a past regret you cannot heal._ " Henry spread his arms again. _"And_ you _don't guess that all the while you're praying the inky little sketches on the wall… might just grow up and love you after all."_ Henry looked again at the searchers. " _Might just grow up and love you after all…_ " He whispered.

"Are you high?" Joey asked. "I mean, ink can be an inhalant, so I wouldn't—"

" _What would a father not do for his child? What heights would a father not climb? There's a bond that exists between father and child, and it only gets deeper with time."_

"Maybe you're not high so much as being reborn by the Ink Machine has made you very silly. Do you think this is getting to me? Because (sniffle) it's not…"

Henry put an arm around the nearest searcher and ink person. _"It's a promise for life between father and child, and to separate is a true pain. This,"_ Henry pointed at Joey. " _has shook me to the soul, with an ache_ you _can't erase. Inky tears you've never cried but still keep scrubbing off your face."_

Henry stomped his foot, spooking the searchers and ink people back a pace. Joey put a hand over his mouth. " _'Cause there's a pain you can't imagine- a wonder job that keeps you wide awake- that somehow turns to bold determination that your boss will not make such a mistake."_

An Alice Angel with a half-melted face poked her head through the door. "We're out of Boris-es," she said.

"What?" said Joey.

Another Alice Angel with a sword poked her head through the door, too. "She said we're out of Boris-es."

Henry pointed at the two angels. " _And so, you vow to feed your inky future, assuring that your talent, poise, and charm might just grow up and save you after all."_

Henry turned to face the angels and held out his hands to them. The angels took a hand each. _"Might just grow up and save you after all…"_ Henry whispered.

A Boris with a metal arm poked his head through an air vent and shook his pipe threateningly at Joey. Joey gulped. Henry turned to look at his former partner over his shoulder.

 _"Some dreams die upon the vine,"_ he continued. _"Some dreams never see the light. But that may just be a sign:_ your _plans are not at all… al…riiiiiiight!"_ Henry hit that high note like a boxer hits the coach. Everyone applauded, including Joey, who was crying now.

Despite the tears, Henry glared at Joey again. " _And there's a thing_ you _can't_ imagine, _that fills up every sinew, bone, and nerve, that makes you want to get out of this heck-hole and let them live the life that they deserve. And suddenly, the past you knew would haunt you, and all of the regrets you didn't show, might just grow up and save you after all."_

Henry let go of the angels. _"Might just grow up and save you…"_ Henry bent his knees. " _Might just grow up and save you, af…ter…aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallll!"_

Henry straightened and held that note for at least five seconds. Everyone in the office stood in awe of this musical old man. Suddenly, the Ink Demon materialized through a crack in the floorboards. Despite the size difference, Henry closed his eyes and held out his arms, letting the Ink Demon consume him in a hug.

 _"What would a father not do for his child? What lengths would a father not go? There's a bond that exists between father and child; ah, but then again…_ Henry opened his eyes and looked right at Joey.

" _…How would_ you _know?"_

Joey let out a sob and blew his nose loudly into a handkerchief. "Okay, okay," he cried, "I'll show you how to change everyone back to normal, and how to turn off the Ink Machine, _and_ how to leave the studio." He wiped his eyes again and walked through the back door of the office.

Henry smiled, a rare occurrence, and looked slowly at all of the toons, ink people, and searchers in the room. "Come on, everyone," he said, "it's time to go home."

The End

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Happy ending! YAY!

So, how was that? Not too shabby for a first song-fic, right? Right? (Cries)

I hope the lyrics weren't too confusing. I tried to keep the rhyme scheme as similar to the song as possible, but to fit the story, some odd changes were made.

Never mind my problems, how about your problems? Did you like this story? I sure hope you did! Leave me a review and tell me what you thought.

Also, for anyone who _really_ liked this and wants to see more, I have a poll on my profile about a story plot I came up with a few days ago. Please take a look!

Until then!


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